Looking for a second opinion on a laptop purchase

[Xenowarrior]

The laptop in question http/www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-yoga-710-2-in-1-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-940mx-256gb-ssd-pearl-black/5579128.p?skuId=5579128
I would be using it for a bit of gaming on the go. Hoping that it would run civ 6 without being super sluggish. Any advice or input would be helpful. I would be purchasing it for around 650.

 

[Autocrat]

You might have to turn the settings down a little bit.

 

[Chugalug_]

That should run Civ 5 alright, but i'm doubtful about Civ 6 unless you turn settings way down. 🙁
I can find you a much better deal on a refurb laptop from Newegg, give me a minute.

 

[Chugalug_]

Here you go, features an i7 and 12GB of memory which should up performance a little with the extra CPU power.
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834331538
Upon doing a bit of research, it should run Civ 6 at a solid frame rate on low-medium settings, it just meets the minimum spec.

 

[Xenowarrior]

That looks like a great recommendation, although I liked the 2 in one and the ssd the better plus extra gddr5 vram is nice

 

[Chugalug_]

You won't utilize even 2GB of GDDR5 realistically with that level of GPU power.
The SSD is definitely a good addition, but that means after OS there will only be 200GB of storage which is a bit small if you plan to store games etc. on there.
I always recommend at least 1TB of storage with any PC unless it's an email machine. 😛

 

[Xenowarrior]

I do have a separate home desktop that I primarily game on. I really wouldn't use more than 200 for games. I don't play too much at the same time. Generally I don't run out of storage very often.

 

[Xenowarrior]

Plus the one I asked about only has ddr3l ram not GDDR5

 

[Chugalug_]

I believe you mean DDR4, not GDDR5!
GDDR5 is VRAM, or video card memory while DDR3L and DDR4 are variants of RAM, or system memory.

 

[Xenowarrior]

I believe you mean DDR4, not GDDR5!
GDDR5 is VRAM, or video card memory while DDR3L and DDR4 are variants of RAM, or system memory.

The one from best buy lists 2 gig ddr3l as VRAM. The one from Newegg lists gddr5. According to the Nvidia site there are two variants and both memory types are supported

 

[Chugalug_]

Best buy is wrong.
DDR3L is a type of system memory that goes with the laptop!
When it states compatibility, it is referring to the fact that it (DDR3L) can actually run alongside the graphics chip.
Both feature the same graphics chip in the 940MX which has GDDR5 VRAM..

 

[Xenowarrior]

So when the nvidia site http/www.geforce.com/hardware/notebook-gpus/geforce-940mx/specifications says that the memory interface includes ddr3 it does not mean that the ddr3 is used for vram?

 

[Chugalug_]

No it does not, it means that the graphics card will work with DDR3 memory.
The memory interface refers to what types of memory it will work with, DDR3 being one of them.
It actually also supports DDR3L and DDR4, as they are just lower voltage versions, and the page hasn't been updated in a while.

 

[Xenowarrior]

ahh okay that makes sense. So the extra 2 gigs of vram wouldn't make a difference because they're both running the same turd card. Thanks for clarifying! I might actually still go with my original thought in that case